Fashion
International Fashion Editor and Stylist Tyler Udall Brings Fashion to the Forefront at Blanche Macdonald
If you believe what you see in TV and movies, the fashion industry is populated solely by hysterical, borderline-psychotic ultra-divas.
“That can be right,” smiles Blanche Macdonald fashion instructor Tyler Udall, “But there are a few of us calmer types too.”
Tyler is proof that you can be a success in the fashion business and a great guy at the same time. The easy-going instructor has been a stellar addition to the Blanche Macdonald team, coming to the Fashion School with years of experience in the heart of the industry in both New York and London.
Today Tyler teaches the communications and the styling and art direction courses at Canada’s best fashion school. It’s the latest addition to a stunning résumé. Beginning as PR and Design Assistant at Marc Jacobs, where a major part of his job involved liaising with fashion editors and magazines around the world, Tyler moved to England, where his terrific eye for styling and thick book of contacts swiftly led to the role of Senior Fashion Editor for AnOther Magazine, AnOther Man, and Dazed and Confused. It was a role that took him to the front rows of fashion shows of Paris, New York, London and Milan.
“I have a good friend whose mother was Fashion Director at Holt Renfrew,” explains Tyler. “She urged me to go to design school in New York, so I did. I started working in a fashion house, Marc Jacobs, in my second semester and I really enjoyed it. I liked the clothes and the energy of the people. There were a dozen people running the whole show in terms of design, PR and sales. It was a really mellow environment and everyone would take care of each other.”
When the time came for a change of scenery, Tyler wasn’t looking for the easy option.
“I knew I wanted to go overseas,” he recalls. “I didn't know anyone in London and that was appealing.”
Tyler soon rose to the positions of Senior Fashion Editor for AnOther Magazine, AnOther Man, and Dazed and Confused. And when he wasn’t editing for three international magazines he was donning a freelance consulting cap for labels and brands like Levis, J. Lindeberg, Marc Jacobs, Pepe Jeans, Oakley, Dr Martens, Edwin, Adidas, Protest and Sonia Rykiel, and for celebrities including Joaquin Phoenix, Courtney Love, M.I.A, Babyshambles, Natacha Lejeune, Bjork, The Verve and Daniel Radcliffe. He also spent a year editing for Delusions of Grandeur, the fortnightly fashion column for British broadsheet paper The Daily Telegraph.
“A lot of the time it’s just about finding someone that’s right for the company,” he explains. “I’m an ideas guy. I have good ideas and can get on with everyone pretty well.”
Tyler is being modest. He’s perpetually full of ideas, with an eye for imagery that makes him an ideal artistic director for any fashion shoot.
“I have an appreciation for beauty,” he concedes. “I like nice things, clothes being one of them. I wasn’t a photographer, a hair stylist or a makeup artist. Being an artistic director was a way for me to have ideas, put teams together and execute those ideas.”
Tyler returned to New York in Fall 2008, where he took up a role as Creative Director for the Agency Fred and Associates, conceptualizing and heading up the online services of the creative talent giant and its new divisions, My Best Fred and Fred Loves, while continuing to consult for brands and labels including Nike and Target.
The one-time ballet dancer had officially made it into the upper echelons of the international fashion industry. But years far from home had taken their toll. You can take the boy out of Canada, but you can’t take the Canada out of the boy.
“I came to Vancouver temporarily and realised that I’m happy here,” he smiles. “I’d never lived in the city before, but I knew I liked it and I was always trying to come up with a way to make it work.
“I’ve always known about Blanche Macdonald. It has a great reputation. Now I’m here it’s great! I feel so fortunate to have had all these people who believed in me and have given me so many opportunities over the years. It’s great to be able to pay that forward. There are a lot of talented kids here.
“I love teaching and the people here are great. I love working with Kelly Schmidt and Lily Lim and Mel Watts and Peggy Morrison. They’re all wonderful and I respect them so much.”
Tyler now is inspiring and educating the next generation of fashionistas. That’s his official job as part of the team at Blanche Macdonald. In one sense it’s a new challenge, but it’s pretty much what he’s been doing for years already.
“I like looking at my bookshelf and having a backlog of catalogues and projects that I’ve done. When you get emails from random people around the world saying how inspired they are from what you do, that’s a great feeling.”